Yu-Gi-Oh! Logical Duel Writing
by SIEGris
Summary: I felt the need to post this, because I have seen a lot of written Yu-Gi-Oh duels that broke logic and screwed the rules. This is not meant to be offensive. This is not a story, either.


**Yu-Gi-Oh Fics**

A Few Tips on Writing Logical Duels.

**You can only hold 6 cards in your hand.** Seriously, you've GOT to remember that. I've seen a million people forget that their character hasn't played the "Infinite Hand" card and end up holding 7+ cards.

**You cannot summon a bunch of monsters on one turn. **You are not Kaiba. You don't have money. So you can't screw the rules.

**When you put down continuous effect cards, remember they exist. **You heard me right. Nothing messes up an awesomely-written duel more than forgetting your character has played a continuous effect, or when they do remember, remembering the effects incorrectly.

**Unless you are the Pharaoh, Kaiba, or Marik, do not summon a god card.** The only THREE people in this anime who are even reasonably able to summon these cards are these three. For example, if you have an OC, don't have them able to read the Dragon of Ra's inscription without a good reason. Marik could only read them after a lifetime as a tombkeeper, and because he was connected to ancient Egypt. Same with Kaiba and the Pharaoh.

**This is a little more complicated – keep track of the cards your character has. **The thing is, it's hard to keep track of the cards your character is playing. But try to keep track of them in another document, and keep a close record of the duel so that you don't run into incorrect LP amounts, or overlapping cards (when you say you have one card, but then you play another illogically.)

**Do not make an OC legitimately psychic or have ESP.** Truth be told, the only "Psychics" in Yu-Gi-Oh had something up their sleeves. Mai used perfume markings, Esper Roba used his little brothers to see his opponent's cards, and Maximillion Pegasus had his Millenium Eye. So if your OC has legitimate ESP, we've already proven that can't happen in this universe unless you cheat or have a millennium item, so that cannot work.

**Make sure you don't have possession of a one**-**of-a-kind card or incredibly rare card that you must meet specific requirements for wielding. **I mean, of course, a Seal of Orichalcos being played without working with Dartz, a Legendary Dragon being played even if the character isn't Yugi, Kaiba, or Joey, and a god card being played by someone without a connection to Egypt. Lesser-known to this rule is the card Toon World, which only Pegasus possesses.

**Heart of the Cards is fine if it is essential to the plot, and the card drawn is a reasonable and creative solution. **But if you somehow manage to pull a card that you could never possess, that just won't do.

**If you're going to make your own cards to use, make sure they are REASONABLE in power.** For example, if the card allows you to search your deck for Exodia, GET OUT. If it's an incredibly powerful monster (2900+ ATK), make sure you need to tribute 2 to summon it, or have it be a Ritual. Also, you can't just make your card something like…

**[Example] ATEN, THE SUN DISK**

** ATK: 5000**

** DEF: 4500**

** Tribute 3 monsters to summon Aten. This summon cannot be negated. When three monsters are tributed to summon Aten, all monsters on the opponent's side of the field are destroyed. If any of the God Cards are played, their ATK becomes 0. Tribute 2 monsters to Aten to destroy all monsters on your opponent's side of the field and inflict 5000 damage to their life points. You can tribute Slifer, Obelisk, and Ra to make this card's ATK and DEF points infinite, and its attacks able to damage opponent even if monsters are in defense mode.**

Because seriously, WTF. Even if that did exist, I would argue that it should be in the hands of the Pharaoh anyway.

**And last but not least, try not to ALWAYS draw the card you need**. That's what makes awesome duels such nail-biters. And don't be afraid to damage your character's life points, lose monsters, and be at the mercy of some trap or spell at some point.That is all.


End file.
